BROWNING, JAMES ROBERT
James Robert Browning, a federal judge, is credited with holding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit together at a time when there was enormous pressure to split the nation’s largest and busiest circuit into smaller, more manageable units. Browning’s innovations in JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION demonstrated that the federal courts, despite ever-increasing caseloads, could continue to provide speedy and effective justice. During his tenure, the Ninth Circuit court, which oversees justice in nine western states and two Pacific territories, grew from a nine-judge panel, to a 28-judge tribunal that managed more than 5,500 appeals a year in the late 1980s.
Browning was born in Great Falls, Montana, on October 1, 1918. He grew up in and attended the public schools of Belt, Montana, a small town east of Great Falls, where his father was a blacksmith and, later, owner of the town’s Ford dealership. Browning completed his undergraduate work at the University of Montana and entered that university’s law school in 1938, becoming editor in chief of the law review and graduating with honors in 1941. After graduation, he joined the Antitrust Division of the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT in Washington, D.C. Two years later, he was inducted as a private into the U.S. Army Infantry. He served in military intelligence in the Pacific theater for three years,
attaining the rank of first lieutenant and winning a Bronze Star.
Following WORLD WAR II, Browning returned to the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, first in Washington, D.C., and then in Seattle, Washington. In 1948, at the age of 30, he was named chief of the Northwest Regional Office of the division. Before long, he was called back to Washington, D.C., and named assistant chief, General Litigation Section, Antitrust Division.
By 1951, he had joined the Civil Division as first
assistant. In 1952, he was named executive assistant
to the attorney general of the United States.
Later that year, he organized the Executive Office
of U.S. Attorneys and became its first chief.
Browning left the Justice Department in
1953 to enter private practice. For the next five
years, he was a partner at Perlman, Lyons, and
Browning, in Washington, D.C. In 1958, he was
named clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court. From
this position, he was appointed as a circuit judge
to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
by President JOHN F. KENNEDY, on September
18, 1961.
As a circuit judge, Browning became
involved with the JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF
THE UNITED STATES and started exploring the
field of judicial administration. (The Judicial
Conference is the principal machinery through
which the federal courts operate and is responsible
for establishing the standards and shaping
the policies that govern the federal judiciary.)
In the mid-1970s, there was no guarantee of
speedy disposition of litigation in the federal
courts. The courts of appeals, in particular, faced
widespread crises because the volume of appeals
far exceeded the capacity of the courts to decide
them. The Ninth Circuit court was no exception,
and, because of its enormous backlog of cases,
was the subject of much discussion among
scholars, Congress, and the judiciary. Studies to
examine the problems of the Ninth Circuit usually
presented one of two conclusions: reduce
the size of the circuit, or add more judges to the
court. There was strong opposition to dividing
the circuit, but there was equally strong opinion
that adding more judges would make the circuit
even more unmanageable.
Browning was named chief judge of the
Ninth Circuit on July 1, 1976, and found himself
in a position to experiment with his ideas on
judicial administration. As the new chief judge,
Browning was instrumental in convincing Congress
to give the judges of the Ninth Circuit an
opportunity to demonstrate that a large circuit
with a large court of appeals could perform
effectively.
Under Browning’s leadership, that challenge
was met with remarkable success. Foremost
among the innovations initiated by Browning and his colleagues were new methods of case
processing and control, including the installation
of the first completely computerized docketing
(scheduling) system in a federal appellate
court. Browning’s innovations were later chronicled
in a study published by the FEDERAL JUDICIAL
CENTER (Administration of Justice in a
Large Appellate Court—The Ninth Circuit Innovations
Project [1985]). The court also created an
executive committee to facilitate administrative
decision making, assigned similar cases to the
same three-judge panel, resolved panel conflicts
with a “mini” en banc court of 11 judges (rather
than with all 28 judges assigned to the circuit),
and created a BANKRUPTCY panel to hear bankruptcy
appeals exclusively.
These modifications and more, from decentralized staffing to fundamental changes in the way the court deliberates, turned the Ninth Circuit into a model for other courts around the country. In addition to speeding up justice, Browning’s innovations also improved the Ninth Circuit’s judicial record over time. In 1984, the Supreme Court reversed 27 of 28 decisions from the Ninth Circuit. By 1987, the circuit’s reversal rate was down to 47 percent—and was the third lowest in the country.
On June 15, 1988, after a dozen years as chief judge, Browning stepped down, but remained an active circuit judge handling a full caseload. In September 2000, Browning took senior status. He retained his chambers in San Francisco and continued to hear court cases. As of 2002, Browning’s 40-year tenure on the court was the second longest of any federal judge in the United States.
Browning helped establish the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society in 1985 and in 1987 he became one of the founders and current board members of the Western Regional Justice Center, a nonprofit group that focuses on the improvement of the judicial system. In 1991, he was awarded the prestigious Edward J. Devitt Award for Distinguished Service to Justice and in 2001, he received the Montana State Bar Association’s William J. Jameson award. Also, in 2001, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced a bill calling for the Ninth Circuit Court’s San Francisco headquarters to be named after Judge James R. Browning.
FURTHER READINGS
Hursh, Jack. 1995. “Tribute to Judge James R. Browning.” Montana Law Review 56 (winter).
MacLean, Pamela A. 2001. “Judge Has Given Half a Lifetime to Improving Courts; Diplomat, Leader Has 40 Years’ Practice at Shaping an Expanding 9th Circuit. (James
R. Browning, 9th U.S. Court of Appeals Judge).” The Los Angeles Daily Journal 114 (September 27).
—. 1988 “Judge Browning’s Legacy: the Ninth Circuit’s Chief Judge is Leaving the Court More Efficient Than He Found It.” California Lawyer 8 (June).
“The State Bar’s Highest Award Goes to Judge James Browning.”
August 2001.Montana Lawyer Magazine. Available online at (accessed June 19, 2003).
“THE NINTH CIRCUIT IS THE ONLY COURT IN WHICH, WITHIN OUR BOUNDARIES, IS REPRESENTED ALL THE POINTS OF VIEW, BASICALLY ALL THE PROBLEMS, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC, OF THE WHOLE NATION. THAT KIND OF COURT CAN MAKE A VERY POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FEDERAL LAW AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL.” —JAMES BROWNING
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